Welcome dear fellow members,

to my very first Forum post ever.
I have just one question.

How do one gets reviews of a story?

I tried many things, like advertising wildly in the discord server ;)
posting in many different groups and for my main story even looking out for an editor,
but just a small group of people seemed to be interested in my story.
I'm thankful for that, but I'm like a disney princess, I just want more.

Could it be, that my English is just awful?
Or my stories weren't interesting in the first place?
I didn't know for sure.
So my next attempt to attract an audience is this forum post.

So I would like to ask, how do I get more reviews for my stories?
Or even ask you for a review.
I would ask you to read one of my stories and write my something, anything helpful.
Thanks for your time and your reviews.

Yours Lethrael

P.S.: I know it's an advertising post and I'm really sorry for that,#
but also the question seems to be legit in my point of view.

5974851
Getting people to read your stories is always a difficult science.

All I can say is just keep writing what you want, and keep working to improve. Looking some of your stories, the issues that pop out to me are quality (people have mentioned grammatical errors and such), and the descriptions - they're not particularly engaging.

Descriptions are difficult, but you'll have to work on improving them as they're the first part of the story a potential reader will see. It has to be well written (no errors) get across the overall tone of the story, and present a reason to read the story.

Also, very important, keep writing! At the end of the day, you should be writing for yourself, regardless of what other people think. If it's something you're passionate about and enjoy, it's almost always going to be better than anything else.

There are plenty of review and editing groups who will help you out. Matter of fact, I could give it a once over and analyze your flaws if you want. Readers are hard to come by, but most experienced authors will enjoy helping out a fledgling author who shows genuine interest in improvement and good listening skills.

5974851 Like 5974908 said, review groups are a great place to start. Also find an author/reviewer you like an ask them via PM to review your work.

Join the A for Effort group! It's in the process of being revived! You'll be sure to get a review there :D 5974851

5975251 Thanks for the suggestion, I have done it. So I'm thrilled how it would end.

5975070 I wouldn't press another author into any kind of this, because I think it is hard enough to write a good story and reviews, when they are well written are a realy difficult task, so I would never try to beg any writer I love to write a review for a story they didn't want to read or demand a review for one of mine's.

5974894 My style of writing isn't much in descriptions, for one very important reason. I try to minimalise them in my stories as a matter of phrasing, so my stories are lacking this particular elements.
I focus more on character interactions and in think, that the minimal descriptions strengthens the story in a good way.
So it isn't a vage idea, but rather a well thought piece of my own writing style.
Thanks for your answers for all that.
I truly want this kind of replies.

In fact thank you all for your help and advices.
Your's Lethrael

5975343 I think Sollace meant the description on your story and not the prose in your story. Because that is one of the most important steps to attract readers.

On thing about the review groups though. They tend to have a long waiting list so be sure to check if there is an opening at all. And check their reviews since they might not be what you want.

5975343 Most authors are decent folks, they might not say yes, but I don't think anyone would get annoyed at you for asking. I get your not wanting to bother people, but a direct ask is the best way to get a review. Many authors/reviewers have their policies on reviewing on their profile page or what have you, so at very least you can probably feel okay about asking the ones who have solicitation policies.

5975343 5975356
Precisely. I was talking about the little paragraph you put on the front of the story. I haven't actually look too deep into the content of the story, but as long as you know what you're doing, it shouldn't be too much of an issue.

5975837 Ah I get it.
That's my problem, I'm not good in writing synopses.
Suspenseful synopses at least
I can't say what I should tell for a story, so I stay it this way.
Do you have an idea how I can improve my synopses?
Thanks for your help.

5975365 I'll see if I can do as you suggested.
But I will wait to do it next weekend to think it through.

5974851
As someone who occasionally writes lengthy reviews, I can tell you that there are far more people and stories on the site that want reviews than their are reviewers. What you want is in super-high demand, and being done for free. Always keep that in mind.

As someone who also likes to write, play viddy games, work at a job, watch ponies, and interact with friends and family, I simply don’t have enough hours in the day to review everything I might want to review. Hell, my read later backlog is over 400 stories, and that’s not even very much from what a lot of others people mention whenever the topic comes up.

First step to getting a review out of me is not to spam all over the place. I realize you want to get your story heard of. I understand marketing. But for me, if you associate your story with spam, I’m going to ignore it on principle. It won’t matter how interesting it is if that happens. Again, I have enough on my plate, and I expect others to be at least a little humble when seeking free stuff.

Second step, your story has to be interesting to me. It can have the shittiest grammar, all sorts of problems, and end up the worst story on the site. But if it interested me enough to read it to find all that out, then you’ve got the foot in the door with me you need. I can’t review something I don’t read.

Third, it has to not be mediocre. Again, it could be a steaming pile. Or it could be gold. But if it is really just mediocre same thing I’ve seen a million times before, why bother reviewing it? If I hate it, then I can find things to say why I hate it. If I like it, I can say things about what Iiked.

And lastly, when I write a review, it is for my entertainment to do so. Because that’s the only “payment” I get out of it. I do it to entertain other people who might read the review, just as much as you’re entertaining readers of your story. A review is not a grammar lesson or creative writing course. If you’re seeking those kinds of things, pay a school to teach you. Those subjects are large and marketable. People get paid well to know those things and explain them to people who don’t. If you manage to get any learning value out of a review I’ve written, then that’s a side effect.

I can’t speak for other reviewers, but I can’t imagine they’re all that different from what I described for myself. It seems like a pretty basic set of concerns, though most aspiring writers seem to not have realized them.

5976155
Thanks for your honest reply.
I think I can understand why it is so difficult to review stories.
I tend to do it just occasional and try to write something good before I criticise it to rough.
And yes I can dig the too many to read list.
I don’t have quite so much to read like you.
And even in this stories I can’T bring myself to write any kind of review, but I try to do it when I finish a story.
Or when I think I have found something worth talking about.
But it become less and less of my focus, because I write more and more stories or
have to translate them in much shorter time to satisfy myself.
So I get short of actually write my own reviews.